In order to operate on a given tissue or a blood vessel, surgeons must ligate or occlude nearby blood vessels to prevent patient blood loss. Surgeons employ small surgical clips and long cartridges within the clip appliers to ligate or occlude blood vessels in laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical procedures. These surgical clips need to perform multiple functions.
First, the surgical clip must be securely located on the blood vessel. Movement or slippage of the surgical clip on the vessel should be minimized or eliminated once the clip has been applied. Second, the surgical clip should completely close the blood vessel to which it is applied. Movement or slippage of the surgical clip or failure to fully close a blood vessel may cause one or more of the following: damage to nearby tissue, interference on the surgical site, patient blood loss, a lethal drop in blood pressure, or loss of the clip inside the patient. Third, the surgical clip should be designed to minimize damage to the closed blood vessel and surrounding tissue as much as possible. Surgical clips that cause tissue or blood vessel damage may result in internal bleeding, a lethal drop in blood pressure, infections, or longer recovery periods.
Examples of surgical clips are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,610,073; 6,217,590; 5,509,920; 5,501,693; 5,201,746; 5,171,253; 5,171,252; 5,100,420; 5,084,057; 5,026,382; 4,971,198; 4,976,722; 4,979,950; 4,844,066; 4,799,481; 4,702,247; 4,414,721; 4,188,953; 4,146,130; 3,867,944; and 3,363,628; and U.S. Published Patent Application Nos. 2007/0173866; 2005/0273122; and 2004/0153107; all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Previously disclosed surgical clips have two surgical legs defined by a pair of legs joined at a proximal end by an apex and spaced apart at a distal end to define a space between the legs. A clip applier places a surgical clip over a blood vessel within this space and releases the spring loaded legs to ligate the vessel.
However, the previously disclosed surgical clips have legs that do not close or open in directions that are substantially parallel to each other. Non-parallel closure over a vessel leads to clip slippage on the vessel.
Thus, the previously disclosed surgical clips are not adequately secured on blood vessel
Accordingly, the subject invention is a novel surgical clip with two legs that close in a substantially parallel way, with less dependence on the position and size of the tissue occluded, thereby securely fastening to and closing a blood vessel while minimizing slippage and damage to the vessel.